Don Chicken Pie: The Complete Guide
What is a Don chicken pie?
A Don chicken pie is the chicken pie made to Chef Don Lim’s original recipe. Chef Don Lim is the founder of Don Pie, the “DON: Your Personal Pie Club” shop that opened at Far East Square around 2000 and later grew into a restaurant across the street at China Square. He dates the recipe itself to 1983, when he was making pastries for a tech company’s staff cafeteria, and he went on to co-found Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab.
Today the pie is baked under the DonChef name at Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, the restaurant at 39 Tyrwhitt Road in Jalan Besar, and sold there and at four takeaway kiosks. On the menu it is called the Original Chicken Pie. “Singapore’s original Chicken Pie, since 1983” is the brand’s own tagline, printed on its menu. We are pie people, not historians, so we will leave it there: this site is about the pie itself.
People search for it in a dozen ways: Don pie, Don’s pie, Don chicken pie, Chef Don’s chicken pie, DonChef’s chicken pie. On this site they all mean the same thing: pies made to Chef Don Lim’s 1983 recipe and baked today as DonChef pies at Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab.
What is inside a Don chicken pie?
The filling is the reason we started this site. Here is what the kitchen and independent reviewers say is in it, layer by layer.
| Part | What it is | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| Crust | A golden, flaky pastry, made in-house | The kitchen |
| Chicken | Tender chunks, not shreds | The kitchen; one blog reported boneless leg meat |
| Potato | Soft cubes through the filling | The kitchen and reviewers |
| Vegetables | Reviewers mention peas and carrots | Reviewers |
| Seasoning | A secret spice blend | The kitchen |
| Egg | Half a hard-boiled egg | Reviewers; the kitchen calls it a signature egg |
Two notes from the lab. First, reviewers do not agree on how to classify the crust. One calls it puff pastry, another calls it old-school and puffy, a third finds it thicker and more biscuit-like than a French pastry. We call it what the kitchen calls it: golden and flaky. Second, nobody outside the kitchen knows the spice blend. Our tasting notes describe it as savoury and gently peppery, but that is our palate talking, not a recipe.
Want to poke at each layer yourself? The interactive chicken pie anatomy explorer lets you tap through all nine parts of a cut pie.
Why is there half an egg in it?
Half a hard-boiled egg is the calling card of the old-school Singapore chicken pie, and the Don chicken pie keeps it. The egg adds richness and a soft, creamy bite against the chunky filling, and it makes every cut pie look like a little sunrise. We wrote a whole piece on why Singapore chicken pies have a boiled egg, including how to boil one for your own pies.
What sizes does the Don chicken pie come in?
The Don chicken pie comes in two sizes on the current menu:
- Personal, which the menu says feeds 1. This is the classic hand-held pie in a paper bag.
- Whole, which the menu says feeds 4-6. This is the family pie for potlucks, office tea and anyone who likes slicing things into neat wedges.
We do not publish weights or diameters, because the menu does not, and we would rather not guess. If you are deciding between the two, our note on personal vs whole Don chicken pie works through when each makes sense and what each serving costs.
How much does a Don chicken pie cost?
The printed menu dated February 2026 lists these prices for the chicken pies (as of October 2026, check the official site before you go):
| Pie | Personal | Whole |
|---|---|---|
| Original Chicken Pie | $6.80 | $33.80 |
| Black Pepper Chicken Pie | $6.80 | $33.80 |
| Chicken Shepherd’s Pie | $6.80 | $33.80 |
| Curry Pie | $6.80 | $38.80 |
Dine-in prices are subject to service charge and prevailing tax, according to the menu, and online or delivery prices can differ. The cakes, beef and apple pies and crab dishes are on the full Don Pie menu and prices page at donpies.com, which we will not duplicate here. For the live figures, go through our page on where to buy a Don chicken pie, which links to the official ordering site.
For context, the personal pie has crept up over the years. Food blogs recorded $5 in 2020 and $6.30 in 2022, and reviewers recorded $6.80 in 2023. Those are point-in-time snapshots, not a price history from the kitchen.
How is the Don chicken pie different from other chicken pies?
Most chicken pies you meet in Singapore fall into a few families, and the Don chicken pie sits firmly in the old-school Singapore camp. Here is how we would explain the difference to a friend.
- Against a heartland bakery pie: the Don pie is bigger and chunkier, with half an egg, and it costs more. The heartland pie is a smaller, cheaper snack, usually with a creamy, finely diced filling.
- Against an American chicken pot pie: a pot pie is usually a deep dish with a single top crust and a soupy, creamy filling eaten with a spoon. The Don pie has a full crust top and bottom and holds together in your hand.
- Against a British chicken and mushroom pie: similar idea, different seasoning. British pies lean on mushroom, leek and white sauce. The Don pie leans on potato, peppery spice and egg.
- Against a curry puff: a curry puff is a fried or baked half-moon snack with curried potato. The Don chicken pie is a baked, round, sit-down pie. The Don Curry Pie is the bridge between the two.
We go deeper in chicken pie styles compared and the head-to-head chicken pie vs curry puff. If you want to see how it stacks up against other chicken pies around the island, from $1.80 heartland pies to gourmet ones, that is a job for a city-wide guide rather than a fan blog.
Which Don chicken pie flavour should you try first?
Start with the Original. The Original is the 1983 recipe and the baseline for every other flavour. After that, the menu offers Black Pepper (same pastry, extra peppery kick), Curry, and a Chicken Shepherd’s Pie topped with mashed potato. Our Don chicken pie family comparison lays out the facts and our opinions side by side.
How should you store and reheat a Don chicken pie?
The kitchen’s own advice is short and sensible: eat the pie within 4 hours of buying it for the best texture, and keep it chilled for up to 3 days. For reheating, the kitchen’s published air fryer setting is 150C for 5 minutes, then 200C for 5 minutes. An older post from the kitchen gives the oven at 150-180C for 20-30 minutes.
Whatever you use, heat the pie until it is piping hot all the way through, 75C at the centre if you own a probe thermometer. Our reheat calculator covers ovens, air fryers, toaster ovens and the microwave-then-crisp route, for personal and whole pies, from room temperature, chilled or frozen.
Where can you buy a Don chicken pie today?
The Don chicken pie is sold at the Tyrwhitt Road flagship in Jalan Besar and at takeaway kiosks in AMK Hub, Wisma Atria, White Sands and Tiong Bahru Plaza. The kitchen also takes advance online orders. Kiosks can sell out, so it pays to check before a special trip.
If you knew the pies from Toa Payoh, note that the Toa Payoh stalls have closed. The nearest current outlets for Toa Payoh folks are the AMK Hub kiosk and the Tyrwhitt Road flagship; our note on the Don chicken pie near Toa Payoh explains.
Addresses, hours and the official ordering link all live on one page: where to buy a Don chicken pie.
Is the Don chicken pie halal?
The Don chicken pie is not Halal-certified. The kitchen states it uses no pork and no lard, but the restaurant serves alcohol and admits pet dogs, so it does not hold certification. The kitchen’s allergen note says its products contain nuts, eggs, dairy and gluten. If you have an allergy, ask the kitchen directly before ordering.
Who writes this guide?
We are a small crew of home cooks who treat chicken pie like a research subject. We eat a lot of Don pies, cut them open and write down what happens. The pies are real. The opinions are ours. Read more on our about page, including how we run our experiments.
Quick questions
Who makes the Don chicken pie?
Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab bakes it under the DonChef name. The kitchen was co-founded by Chef Don Lim, the founder of Don Pie, who created the recipe in 1983. The flagship is at 39 Tyrwhitt Road in Jalan Besar, with takeaway kiosks at AMK Hub, Wisma Atria, White Sands and Tiong Bahru Plaza.
How much is a Don chicken pie?
The printed menu dated February 2026 lists the Original Chicken Pie at $6.80 for a personal pie and $33.80 for a whole pie. That is as of October 2026, so check the official site before you go, because prices can change.
Is the Don chicken pie halal?
No. The kitchen uses no pork and no lard, but it is not Halal-certified. The flagship serves alcohol and welcomes pet dogs indoors, which the kitchen gives as reasons it cannot apply for certification.
Does every Don chicken pie have an egg inside?
Half a hard-boiled egg is the signature of the Original Chicken Pie, and reviewers describe finding it in each personal pie. The kitchen itself talks about its signature egg. If the egg matters to you for a particular flavour, ask when you order.
